14 in Suffolk arrested in drug ring, DA says

Winston Rose Jr., 35, of Deer Park, left, and his brother Uriel Rose, 31, of Bay Shore, were arrested Wednesday, June 17, 2015, in connection with a drug ring that produced $1,277,500 in profit last year for them, Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Kate Wagner said. Photo Credit: SCDA

Law enforcement officials in Suffolk and New York City said Wednesday they've plugged yet another heroin pipeline, but acknowledged it will take many more such efforts to get the cheap and powerful narcotic off the streets.

This latest network, anchored at one end in a "tabletop" operation in the Bronx and the other behind a party planning business in Deer Park, produced $1,277,500 in profit last year for two brothers, who also dealt cocaine, said Suffolk Assistant District Attorney Kate Wagner.

Robert Maldonado, 28, of the Bronx was charged recently in New York Criminal Court with being their heroin supplier. He is charged with second-degree criminal possession of a controlled substance and is being held on bail of $100,000.

Yet despite the latest arrests, for heroin trafficking, Spota said, "This epidemic does not show great signs of abating." Along with the addicts created by cheap heroin, he said it has caused a surge in home burglaries and commercial robberies by people who need to pay their drug dealers.

Bridget Brennan, the special narcotics prosecutor for New York City, said the operation was a small one for her office, but she saw the enormous impact it had beyond the city line. Like Spota, she acknowledged that cheap heroin coming from Mexican cartels will continue to flow through the city into the suburbs, but she said arrests and prosecution eventually will have an effect.

Fourteen people have been charged in Suffolk County in connection with a heroin distribution operation that stretched from Deer Park to the Bronx, prosecutors said on Wednesday, June 17, 2015. Photo Credit: John Roca

The Rose brothers are charged with operating as a major trafficker, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years to life. They and 12 other people, who Wagner said sold drugs they got from the Roses, are charged with second-degree conspiracy, which carries a maximum sentence of 8 1/3 to 25 years in prison.

The operation sold an average of 326 bags of heroin and 3 grams (0.11 ounce) of cocaine a day, Wagner said.

"The Rose brothers have been dealing drugs their whole lives," Wagner said in court. "This, in fact, was a family affair."

"Despite what the people say, it was a legitimate business," Christopher Brocato, Uriel Rose's lawyer, said of the party planning business. Brocato, of Central Islip, said his client had been squatting in abandoned buildings, adding, "Obviously, not the lifestyle of a major drug kingpin."

Winston Rose's lawyer, Phillip Murphy, of Bay Shore, said he knew the party business was real. "I went to the business," he said. "I saw the operation. I don't believe it was a sham. I don't believe it was a front for money laundering."

Murphy said his client has "always been a gentleman. He's always been responsible."

State Supreme Court Justice Richard Ambro set bail for Uriel Rose at $2 million cash or $4 million secured bond, and for Winston Rose at $3 million cash or $6 million secured bond.

Among the other defendants, Spota singled out Dillon Noseda, 26, of East Northport.

"He was the major seller of heroin in the village of Northport and the surrounding communities," Spota said.

Ambro ordered him held on bail of $100,000 cash or $200,000 secured bond.

His attorney, Ian Fitzgerald, of Central Islip, said his client "denies these allegations" and that he had known the Rose brothers for only a couple of months and therefore could not have been a major dealer.